


The Redundant Hero

by MissingMissFisher (bokchoynomad)



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hero Complex, MFMM Flashfic Challenge, Miss Fisher's Flashfic Challenge Heat 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 02:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14392188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokchoynomad/pseuds/MissingMissFisher
Summary: The prompts I chose for the MFMM Flashfic Challenge were as follows: fire, grumpy, dialogue: “Tell the inspector I’ll be right with him.”





	The Redundant Hero

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure if I would have time to join the flashfic challenge, but thought I'd take a stab with about an hour to spare during Heat 3. 
> 
> Unfortunately, it wasn't enough time to get it into the collection, but everyone still encouraged me to try to finish and post it anyway.
> 
> So, here's what I managed to cook up 'by the seat of my pants' in just over two hours ;)

 

_“Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can't figure out what from.”_

― **Mae West**

 

“It’s God’s honest truth, Inspector, just let me at ‘em, and I’ll show ‘em a thing or two! Hasn’t my uncle told you that I’ve spent nearly every day at the shooting range since I was knee high to a grasshopper?”

“I don’t doubt the veracity of your statement at all, Sheriff Whitson,” replied Senior Detective Inspector Jack Robinson with an inward sigh and years of practice at reigning in his exasperation at over-eager hotshots under his command, even temporarily. “However, I highly doubt that Deputy Commissioner Whitson would appreciate if it you were to sustain an injury on your first day with us.”

Of course, as luck would have it, it was City South Station’s privilege to ‘host’ the Deputy Commissioner’s nephew who was a sheriff visiting from the United States. The DC thought it might be instructional for the young man to benefit from a temporary secondment of sorts during his first visit to Australia.

At the time when it had first come up, Jack had not thought much about the request from Russell Street to take on the young man eager to experience some firsthand training. He was used to it, in fact, as the top brass told him that they liked his approach to training the new recruits. Why, look at what he’d managed to accomplish with Senior Constable Hugh Collins, they’d congratulated him.

Also at the time, Jack had only just returned to Melbourne from his extended absence to England. He had been in excellent spirits after his exciting journey and actually thought having an actual sheriff about for a few weeks would be interesting. Even after all his time spent with a certain lady detective, the inspector really ought not to have underestimated this idea of what ‘interesting’ might constitute.

This was certainly the case when barely an hour into Sheriff Joe Whitson’s first day of meeting Inspector Robinson, he already found himself accompanying the formidable senior officer to attend to some public altercation. Whitson had been sitting in the detective inspector’s office when the call had been put through. From what the sheriff had been able to piece together, it sounded like they were heading into something that sounded like it could range from a robbery-turned-hostage situation that was now threatening to escalate to arson.

He and the inspector were now crouching low in an alleyway under a window outside a jewellery store. The inspector had not shared any further details whatsoever on their journey over and his senior constable, who had seemed jolly enough when Whitson first arrived at the station, had remained equally grim.

“Yes, sir, I hear you and all,” the young man protested in his attempts to show his mettle to the seasoned inspector. “But, I think you really oughta let me try to get a whiff of the upstarts’ whereabouts in there! At least see if the hostages are all right. Maybe your constable could create some diversion or other, and then I can slip over there and nail ‘em one right between the eyes!”

“You’ll stay here, Sheriff, until I tell you otherwise. Is that understood?” Inspector Robinson turned his searing gaze onto Joe who fought the urge to salute at the older man’s commanding tone.

Joe didn’t doubt what he’d heard about Inspector Robinson’s exploits, including the fact the man had a reputation for being exacting with his men. But his clearance rate was exceptional and even from the little he’d witnessed thus far, he trusted Inspector Robinson’s instincts. Even so, they had to do something, especially now that it sounded like the criminals had taken several women hostage judging from the bits of conversation they could overhear.

“Sir, I think we should move towards the front door now,” Senior Constable Collins spoke up at that moment as he rounded the corner of the wall from his brief reconnaissance to the other side of the building. He pocketed his weapon and began to remove his handcuffs from his belt, no doubt in preparation to apprehend the perpetrators, Joe thought, wishing they could have issued him with his own gun.

“Thank you, Collins,” the inspector stated with a quick nod as he led the way with his steady stride. The men turned left as they reached the end of the alleyway towards the front of the shop. Inspector Robinson now held his own weapon and he nodded pointedly at his constable and motioned for Joe to keep behind him as they slowly approached the door. Collins pulled the right one open just as the inspector grabbed the left one and they entered with their guns raised.

“No, don’t shoot!” The frantic voice called out just as a man materialized from out of the darkness with his hands raised in the air.

“Hold your fire!” Inspector Robinson commanded as a few more of his men had just arrived on the scene as well.

Collins immediately rushed forward to take charge of the first man, quickly searching him before cuffing him.

“Where’s your weapon?” Inspector Robinson demanded.

“ _She_ took it,” the other man spat out in indignation before Collins handed him over to another constable who led the man away.

Wondering who the perpetrator was referring to, Sheriff Whitson continued to follow Inspector Robinson further into the store until they entered an office and came upon a heavily weeping woman sitting by a desk who was being comforted and soothed by a younger one. Joe immediately noticed that she was very pretty and marvelled at how calm she was after the ordeal she must have just endured. He then blinked in surprise when Constable Collins sped up to approach them until the younger woman saw him and a smile lit up her features.

“Hugh! You got my message!”

“Yes, we came as soon as we could, Dottie. Are you all right?”

“Of course, Hugh, nothing to worry about. Hello, Inspector!” She greeted Jack with another pleased smile. “And…”

“Good morning, Mrs Collins, may I introduce you to Sheriff Joe Whitson all the way from Portland, Oregon.” The inspector gestured towards Joe who stepped forward to shake her hand. “Sheriff, this is Mrs Dorothy Williams, whom you may have gathered is married to Constable Collins.”

As the inspector carried on conversing with Mrs Collins and began questioning the woman whom she had been comforting, Joe’s attention was captured by another sound just outside the door. Glancing at the others, he couldn’t help being curious and stepped back to look down the corridor just in time to hear a melodic voice reach him.

“Tell the inspector I’ll be right with him,” its owner requested although the sheriff still couldn’t see her. “In the meantime, could you also please telephone for an ambulance? It’s not a terribly serious wound, but best to take precautions.”

“Er, yes, ma’am,” Joe responded to the no nonsense tone that reminded him a lot of the inspector’s directives as he quickened his pace in alarm, especially as he still had no idea where the woman was. “But where are you? And how badly hurt are you?”

“Ah, you must be the new sheriff who’s in town! I can tell from your delightful accent that you’re not from around here.”

“Yes, ma’am, I am,” he responded. “Sheriff Whitson at your service. And no, ma’am, I’m not from here. I’m happy to tell you all about it if you could tell me where you are so I can assist you.”

“Another noble officer of the law,” she praised him. “You and the inspector will rub along together wonderfully, although he might become grumpy if we don’t get an ambulance here as quickly as possible.”

“And why’s that, Miss Fisher?”

Joe nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound and sudden appearance of the man himself who calmly continued marching down the corridor past the sheriff. Miss Fisher? The sheriff had heard a lot about the famous lady detective from his uncle, and read about some of her exploits even before his arrival in the Antipodes. He had been hoping to be able to meet her, especially as he knew Inspector Robinson worked closely with her. What was she doing here?

After capturing his composure the younger man followed suit and rounded the corner with Inspector Robinson to find a beautiful woman on the floor outside the jewellery store’s large security vault. Her dress was smeared with blood, and she was kneeling over an unconscious man sprawled out on his back and holding an expensive-looking scarf wrapped around just below the man’s knee.

“Well, as you can see, Jack, this gentleman here won’t exactly be able to walk out from here. I think I’ve managed to staunch the wound as much as possible, but he’s certainly going to require some stitches.”

“And how exactly did he sustain this wound?” The inspector moved to join her by the man’s side, taking over her hold on the makeshift tourniquet so she could move from her undoubtedly cramped position.

“I warned him that I had the situation completely under control, Jack. But he simply wouldn’t listen,” she explained, sitting back on her heels at that point with a slight shrug and earnest expression as Inspector Robinson rolled his eyes. “Honestly, if someone wants to commandeer another person’s gun, he ought to at least know bloody well how to use one.”

“Yes, ma’am, I definitely agree with you there!” Joe whole-heartedly agreed with her even as Inspector Robinson turned to glare at him.

“Sheriff, please go find Collins and ask him to telephone the hospital for an ambulance immediately.”

“Yes, sir, right away, Inspector,” Whitson immediately responded. “Ma’am.” He tilted his hat towards Miss Fisher and began to move away from the room to follow the inspector’s instructions. He looked back in time to see Miss Fisher bend forward to place a quick kiss on the inspector’s lips when she obviously thought Joe had left the vault room.

“My hero,” she cooed fondly at him in a playful tone. “Always there, ready to protect the world.”

“Mainly from you,” Inspector Robinson replied.

Although Sheriff Whitson had since moved out of hearing range, even he suspected that anything of further value was being evaluated without words in the vault.


End file.
